The Portland daily press., 1887-12-05
MR.. REED INTERVIEWED.
Necessity of Surplus Reduction and
Difficulties In the Way.
Parliamentary Difficulty Arising from
Divided Majority.
Propositions Affecting the Tariff and
Internal Revenue Systems.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3. 3.-Representative
Reed of Maine, who received the Republican
nomination for the Speakership in the eau
Gus this afternoon, will be retained, undoubt-
edly, as one of the Republican members of
the ways and means committee, but it is ap-
parent that he does not expect that he and
his Republican colleagues will have any
voice in the forming Of tariff OF internal
revenue bill In conversation with report
er Friday, Mr.. Reed said that Congress could
and ought Immediately to pass bill repeal
ing the internal taxes on tobacco, which
would relieve the treasury to the extent of
some S30,000,00O per annum. He does not
expect, however. that the free trade leaders
in the House will consent to that, because
they want to use the proposition to reduce
the internal taxes as lever against the
the protective system.
Mr. Reed was inclined to believe the re-
port. which Is credited by many careful OBJ
servers in Washington. that the whiskey
men and the big manufacturers of cigars
and cigarettes viii work together to prevent
the repeal or a reduction of internal taxes on
distilled spirits. cigars and cigarettes.
Speaking of the difficulties which beset any
attempt to reduce the revenue by legislation,
Mr.. Reed said:
81 have no desire to express any opinion
as to the prospects of legislation this winter
in regard to the surplus. Probably can see
very little further into the mill stone than
You can. 1t would be good thing, however,
if the people of the United States could see
real difficulties that are to be met. II real
understanding Of the situation could be had.
it would 60 far to insure reasonable treat
ment of congressional action. Everybody
agrees that surplus not far from 500, co.,
600 is upon us and ought to be reduced. But
when 1t comes to the question of how to do
it, the trouble begins. At the very outset
the party conditions are M very strange and
anomalous. The responsibility is. of course.
on the party in power. The Democratic
party has at least ten majority and perhaps
fifteen. But it is divided into Democrats in
clined to free trade and Democrats inclined
to protection-the free-traders being in
large majority. In caucus Mr.. Carlisle will
be nominated. If elected he will appoint a
committee on ways and means from his
wing of the party, which will act precisely
as his other ways and means committees
which has only minority back of it, a bill
which cannot pass. On the other hand, the
majority of the House which could pass a
bill, not having the committee o.. WAYS and
means, can not produce a bill at all. This is
a parliamentary difficulty arising out OF the
division in the Democratic party.
''But there are intrinsic difficulties besides. |
The first man / met says: Reduce the Su-
gar duty That looks very simple. But in
1883 that was tried and the whole Demo-
cratic party voted against it. why? The ex-
cuse was that it was a revenue duty. The
reason was that Louisiana was Democrat
ic State. There are also many protectionists
who would vote to retain the full sugar duty
from a sincere belief justified by recent dis |
coveries that we are on the verge OF produc-
ing from sorghum and other sources all the |
sugar our country can consume. You Will |
too, that the administration in
more than one treasury utterance has de- |
manded the retention of the sugar duty
'sThe next scheme is to reduce protective |
duties. But would that reduce the surplus? |
What makes up a customs revenue? The |
amount of articles imported multiplied by |
the duty If you reduce the duty you reduce
the multiplier, which would be e., all right Il
when you reduce the duty you necessarily |
increase the amount imported. Indeed, that |
must be your very object Why reduce du- |
ties if you don't want more foreign goods? |
But we are not left to conjecture as to, re-
Suits small example will make this plain.
By an Interpretation of the law OF 1883
worsted goods duties have been reduced, with
what result? Why, the revenue has doubled.
II we do the same with other articles we
snail nave more surplus Idtucl bhah iOoo'
What effect such changes would have on the
business of the country just at this moment |
| leave business men to conjecture and dread. |
Another proposition is to take the reduc- |
tion from the Internal revenue. There is "a |
very wide agreement as to the tobacco tax, |
and if the Speaker would allow proposition |
to take that $50, 0,000,0 900 off, it would easily |
pass. But he probably intends to use that |
as a weapon to attack protection under the |
guise of reduction of surplus. The whole in |
ternal revenue is about 800, 0,000.C00. When |
you come to the question of reduction of the |
revenue by taking off the whiskey tax, one |
man thinks that it has the advantage of |
many offices, OF leaving the
trade of the country undisturbed, and |
Miss Willard, representing the Woman's |
Christian Temperance Union, believes that |
il will release the government from the par
ticipation in the profits of manufacture |
which no government ought to countenance. |
On the other hand, that tax is defended as |
one easily collected, and much talk is made |
about leaving off the tax on liquor and put
ting it on clothes. The manufacturers, also, |
of whiskey, desire the tax continued because |
it enables those of large capital to absorb the |
business. The expedient of creating free |
list with coal, wool, salt. lumber, iron ore |
and fish thereon is, of course, only attacking |
protection in detail.
"You can see by this slight enumeration
what the difficulties are. LII there was SIN
cere single desire to reduce the surplus, |
which is what the country really wants, there
would be but little difficulty; but so many
men really want to use the reduction OF the
surplus which everybody agrees to as lever
to do something which only free-trade mi
nority wants to do. that the people of this
country are liable to be deceived unless they
keep their eyes on the main question, which
is the reduction of the surplus without dis
turhance of the industries of the country"